Karen Kay Buckley

I was lucky to be invited to work with a super nice group of quilters from Gloversville, New York.  I had never been to Gloversville before.  And guess what?  They used to make a lot of gloves there!!  Now, there are just a few glove factories still in operation.  The name of the guild is Sew Busy Quilt Guild.  You can find out more about the guild by logging on to sites.google.com/sewbusyquilt/home.  Here are some of the ladies working hard on our hand applique project.

As we drove in and out of the area, we were in awe of the landscape.  There were hundreds of geese along the banks of the river.

This area had a big snow storm about 3 days prior to our arrival.  I wonder if  the geese were thinking…..this much snow at the end of March??  We should have waited until April!!

But because of the recent snow the streams were just beautiful.

It was one breathtaking view after another as we drove down Route 30A.

Of our two dogs, Tillie  just loves to play in the snow.  She rolls and runs and goes crazy.  She’s like a little kid.  And she’s no spring chicken!

Talk to you soon……

This past week I taught at a nice little show in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  They hold the show every year in March.  You can find out more about the show at www.mountainquiltfest  This was the 19th annual show.  Next year for their 20th year they will have everything in one location at their new convention center.  This year and previous years they had to split the show between two locations.  If you have never attended and decide to do so you will be in for some real southern hospitality. 

This quilt was made by Molly Mills from Rolla, MO.  The name of her quilt is Prairie Stars.  Molly won first place.

Pamela Mann from Elliston, MO made Stars on A Bed of Feathers.  She won 3rd place.

Early Morning Run won 3rd place.  It was made by Jennifer June from Whispering Pines, NC.

Lorilynn King won 2nd place for her quilt called Botanical Fantasy.

Grape Arbor was made by Peggy Garwood from Fairfield Glade, Tennessee.

Here are some shots of my students hard at work.

I saw a couple of interesting signs at this show.  I must admit I have never seen these signs any place else. 

As the story goes…….. someone actually ironed on the walls a couple of years ago and it cost the organizers a couple thousand dollars for the repairs!

I always think the only reason they have to hang the signs is because it happened at least once before.  Interesting.

Talk to you next week!

I thought you might enjoy seeing a few more of my antique quilts.  These lovely quilts were documented for the Cumberland County Documentation.

I love this two color basket quilt and it hung in my hallway entrance for many years.  Inside each basket handle the quilter quilted different flowers.  I always thought since she stuck with a basic two color quilt and repeated her basket pattern she thought she’d get a little creative in her quilting.

This Whig Rose pattern is one of my favorites.  I like the simplicity of the layout using the same fabric as the background for the lattice or sashing strips.

I found this quilt at an antique shop around 20 years ago.  What prompted me to purchase it?  It is a signature quilt that came out of Reed Township, Dauphin Co.  My family is from this area so I took it to my grandmother who knew almost every family represented in the quilt.  On the back of the quilt someone had stitched a little sandwich bag holding a  3″ x 5″ card with some information on some of the people who signed the quilt.  That made the quilt far more interesting to me.  Normally when I find an antique quilt I do not have any information as to the makers, signers, etc. 

This Log Cabin quilt was purchased over 30 year ago shortly after Joe and I were married. He was in school and we were on a very limited budget. We attended an estate sale in Duncanon, Pennsylvania.  They had two of these quilts and it killed me that we only had enough $$ to purchase one of them. I think we paid $35.00 for it.  It is made from lots and lots of scraps of old shirting fabrics.  I am still impressed that the maker was able to get it relatively square considering she did not have a rotary cutter and all the wonder tools we have today.

My 1870 Feathered Star quilt is fabulous.  It was given to me as a gift from my wonderful husband when my first book (From Basics to Binding, A Complete Guide to Making Quilts, AQS 1992) was published.  We had seen the quilt in a local antique shop and I so admired it but could not find my way to pay the price. That didn’t stop Joe.

We were never able to find a name for this quilt design of another mid 19th century quilt.  It was purchased from an antique dealer in Berks, Co., PA.  It is unusual in that the center of the block has a pieced star and then is surrounded with these wonderful applique flowers.  Since I like circles I loved that the maker added them to her star design.  I wondered if she added the one in the center of the star because her 8 points did not meet.  I like this quilt maker!  Good idea.  

This is the only baby quilt we own.  Joe found this and brought it home for me when I was in the process of making an Ocean Waves quilts for our spare bed.  My research tells me that a lot of baby quilts were so well used and loved that not many were passed on.  I have also read that since there were many health issues that could not be treated back then many baby quilts were buried with the babies that died from these untreatable diseases.  

I hope you enjoyed see a couple more of my antique quilts.  I had not had some of them out in years so having the documentors come was really a good thing.

Until next week. 

I started my adventure in Maryland with the Friendship Star Quilters from Gaithersburg, MD. www.freindshipstar.org  I have worked with this guild before and saw a lot of familiar faces.  And I met some new quilters as well.  I taught a workshop for the guild on Sunday and then on Monday evening I presented my border lecture.  That meant I had Monday morning and afternoon open.  My guild contact, Cathy, was kind enough to take me to an excellent Japanese restaurant for lunch and then we went to Capital Quilts in Gaithersburg.  I had been in this shop many years ago. I remembered it to be a really nice shop and my memory served me well as it is still a wonderful shop!  You can find out more about the shop by visiting  http://www.capitalquilts.com

Below are several photos from the shop.  I think you will agree….great shop.

And then Ginger, a member of both of the guilds I was visiting, took me to Jinny Beyer’s quilt shop.  I have wanted to stop in Jinny’s shop for years.  When Ginger said that we were only 1/2 hour from the shop and she wanted to take me….I said “OK”.  I’m glad I did.  You can find out more about this shop at www.jinnybeyer.com

This is the Block of the Month that the shop is currently offering.  Looks fabulous.

Below are some photos of Jinny’s quilts and the shop.

Jinny’s assistant asked if I would pose with Jinny so she could post it on Facebook.  I said, “Only if you take a photo using my camera also”.

The fabric displays in the shop are just what I would expect from Jinny.   A beautiful rainbow of beautifully arranged colors.

My lecture for the Nimble Finger Quilters in Rockville, www.nimblefinger.org  was cancelled due to snow storm that struck the East Coast.  Bummer. This is a photo taken from my hotel room as I watched the snow falling.

But I did get to teach my workshop for the guild the following day.  Great group of ladies.  We had a really nice day.  The guild has recently moved to a new location and the room had lots of natural light which is very helpful for a hand applique workshop.

Have a great week.  I hope you get lots of time to sew.

My guild, the Letort Quilters, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania is on a mission to document all of the quilts in our county. That is a large task as they are documenting mainly quilts made prior to the 1960’s. This past week several guild members came to my house to document some of my antique quilts.  I took photos of some of my quilts and thought you might enjoy seeing them.

This first quilt I wanted to share is in excellent condition for it’s age.

The fabrics are in such good shape.  It appears the quilt was never used.  And the points look pretty darn good!  Not an easy task considering how they worked back then with paper templates.

Joe found this Princess Feather quilt top.  Over the years we have collected several red and green quilts.  I think they are my favorites, but honestly, I love them all.

We came across this wonderful hand applique quilt at an antique dealers booth many years ago.  I was intrigued with the design.  I am not positive of the design name but the closest I got to finding a name was the Mexican Flower.

It is interesting how they quilted right over the applique design by following the same quilting as the background.

The base design  I believe is a single Irish Chain.

The fabrics in this quilt are unlike any other quilts that I have.

And the stars are nicely sewn.  The points look pretty darn good on this quilt as well.

This quilter had a fun collection of fabrics.

Most of the antique quilts we have were purchased from the owners, flea markets or estate sales.  But, Joe found this one online probably 14 years ago.  It is an amazing 1880’s Hawaiian quilt top.

It had some interesting hand stitching along the entire outside edge.  They used a cream colored thread for all of their hand applique.  Today we would match our thread color to our applique so it could not be seen.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my antique quilt collection.  I’m off to Maryland this week to teach for two guilds.  Talk to you next week.

I was fortunate enough to be invited  back to teach at the Applique Academy in Williamsburg, Virginia.  Colonial Williamsburg  is one of my most favorite places.  I walked through the streets  each morning and it has a calming effect on me.  I love the architecture, feelings of times gone by and the memories.  Joe and I have visited this area together on many occasions.  One year we surprised my mother and took her to Colonial Williamsburg a week before Christmas.  This area is incredibly beautiful all the time but more so during the holiday season.

Here are some photographs of what I saw on my morning walk.

As I wrote earlier, my reason for being in Williamsburg was to teach for the Applique Academy.  You can find more about the academy at http://www.ellysienkiewicz.com .  It is organized by Elly Sienkiewicz and her trusty assistant, Bette.  The academy is structured for the students to spend three full days with one instructor.    I had a wonderful group of 20 students and it was a pleasure to walk in to the room and be with them.

One day they learned how to paint on their fabric to get the veins in some leaves and to get the shading in the flower petals.

Each afternoon the seminar holds some kind of fun function for the participants.  One day they have an afternoon tea and hat day.  Some ladies wore their mothers’ fabulous hats.  There were some great hats.

Barb found hats for us to wear.  For the record…Barb made me do it.

Elly in her wonderful hat.

And the afternoon events also included a show and tell of quilts that students brought from home.  Jan took my “Heard It Through the Grapevine” workshop with her guild in Harrisonburg, VA this fall and had her block to share.  Jan is behind the podium and her block is being held up on the left side of the photo.  Jan is an excellent  appliquer and her block really showed her great workmanship.

This event is so very well organized and the staff goes the extra, extra mile.  Each day they brought something special to me and my students.  On the day of the tea they brought a beautiful invitation for the event with a tea bag inside.  One day they brought a little gift bag with some chocolate treats and a dragonfly pin.  Each teacher received a beautiful coaster with a block from the quilt we were teaching on the coaster.  Elly and Bette  go well beyond the norm making this one very special event.  If you love to applique you must check into attending this academy.

This cute little quilt called “Costa Rican Dream” was made by Sally Freeberg from California.

Linda Anderson, also from California, made “Grand Guard”.  She won second place in the Art Critter category.

“Uninvited Guest” was made by Sharon Schlotzhouer from Colorado Springs, CO.  Sharon’s quilt won an honorable mention in the Art Critter category.  You can find out more about Sharon and her incredible quilts at http://www.sharonlschlotzhauer.com/gallery.html   Looks just like our bird feeder.  I’m pretty sure the squirrels eat more than the birds!

“Cluck Cluck” was made by Marta Price and quilted by Marla Monson from Grass Valley, CA.

“Something About a Truck” was made by Candy Brown from Auburn, CA.

“Hoot Are You, Hoot ,Hoot” was made by Sherry Glidden from Ladera Ranch, CA.

“In Praise of Natural Curves, Canyonlands Utah” was made by Kathy Schattleitner from Grand Junction, CO.  Kathy won second place in the Art Naturescape category.

“Surrender” was made by Maria Elkins from Beaver Creek, Ohio.

“Slowly Succumbing to the Elements” was made by Judy Leslie from Coquitham, BC, Canada.  Judy won Best Painted Surface.

Peggy Kragnes made “Green Miles.  She won 3rd place in the Large Pieced Traditional category.

“Carousel Stampede” was made by Cathy Wiggins from Macon, North Carolina.  She won the Director’s Award.  You can find out more about Cathy at http://www.cathywiggins.com/

“Red Feathers” was the Best of Show winner.  It was made by Claudia Clark Myers and Marilyn Badger.

Here is close-up shot.  Amazing.

“Larry” was made by Jennifer Day from Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Jennifer’s write-up said that she took this photo of her sewing machine repair man.  Very cool.  You can find out more about Jennifer and her photography and quilts at http://jdaydesign.com/art_portraits.html

Hope you enjoyed viewing some of the fabulous quilts from the Road to California show.  I am off to Williamsburg this week to teach at the Applique Academy.  Talk to you next week.

There were lots of incredible quilts on display at the Road to California show.  I would like to share some of my favorites.

Denise Havlan won one of the top prizes with her quilt “The Pieceful Ones”.  Denise won the Masterpiece award.  You can find out more about Denise and her amazing quilts on her website http://www.denisehavlan.com

“Roman Tiles” was made by Ann Peterson from Surprise, Arizona.  Ann won a top award……Excellence in Machine Quilting.

“Soffito de San Marco” was made by Laurie Tigner from Rapid City, South Dakota.

Marilyn Badger won two prizes at this show.  For “Euphoria” she won 1st place in the traditional large pieced category.

“Tucker’s Tulips” was made by Susan Garman from Friendswood, Texas.

You can find out more about Susan at http://suegarman.blogspot.com

Here is a close-up of her quilt.  Fabulous quilting.

“Borrowed Roses” was made by Jerrianne Evans and quilted by Cynthia Clark.  It is a pattern from Susan Garman.  Susan was well represented in this show.

“Bed of Roses” was also made by Susan Garman.  She won 2nd place in the traditional large applique category.

“Respite” was made by Linda Anderson from La Mesa, CA.

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One of my students at Road to California brought her finished piece from the workshop I taught there ten years ago.  I apologize for not having the student’s name.  If anyone knows the maker please email me and I will add it to the blog. (I lost my note with the maker’s name. )   The block looks great! Great texture on the butterfly wings, great circles and great point.  Like I said, a wonderful block.

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At the recommendation of some blog readers and students I read “The Kitchen House” by Kathleen Frisson.

I started it on my flight to California and finished it today.  It was a hard book to put down.  I wanted to keep reading but, well, life gets in the way sometimes.  Lavinia, a white servant girl, is brought home by the ships captain to his tobacco plantation.  She is raised by the captains illegitimate (slave) daughter who runs the kitchen for the main house.   Being raised by the servants creates bonds but because Lavinia is white she will lead a different life.  The story is told through the eyes of Lavinia and Belle.  As I mentioned, the book was hard to put down.  My only complaint….I wanted more at the end of the book.  It seemed to end abruptly.  But, I still thought it was a very good read.

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Today is my oldest girl’s 14th birthday.  I feel very lucky to have her in my life.  I tell her every day how much I love her. 

HAPPY 14TH BIRTHDAY SASHA.  I LOVE YOU, YOU SWEET DOG.

I’ll have more quilts from the Road to California show to share next week.  Have a great week.

I recently taught locally for the Lemoyne Star Quilters located in Lemoyne, PA.  It is always good to be invited back to a guild.  Here are some of the ladies working hard in the machine applique workshop.

I am not sure why but it always makes me happy when a mother and daughter take classes together.  Mother, Kathy, and daughter, Maureen, are on opposite sides of this photo.  Eileen and Karen are in the middle.

It’s great to teach so close to home.  I’ve known many of the ladies from this guild for many years and I love going back to work with them.

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After the big trip to Lemoyne, 20 minutes from my house, I got on a plane to California.  I taught at the Road to California Show.  You can find out more about the show at http://www.road2ca.com  When I arrived at the hotel the show organizers had a goodie bag for each of the teachers.  Inside our bags there was this large piece of chocolate with quilting designs.  The candy was made locally by Logan’s Candies.    You can find out more about Logan’s at http://www.loganscandies.com 

Guess what?  I did not have any to bring home!

They also had a can of olives in our goodie bag.  Now, those I did bring home!

I flew in a couple of days early and Joe came along.  We drove up to Mount Baldy, located just a couple of miles outside of Ontario where the show is located.    One of the nice things about this area…you can be at sea level while in town and within a short drive you can be in the snow covered mountains.

The drive up to Mount Baldy was really beautiful.

I am fascinated with the bark on the eucalyptus trees.  We do not have eucalyptus trees where I live.

Now, for the exciting part of the pre- quilt show trip.  Joe got us tickets to see a taping of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Joe corresponded with one of the nicest guys ever, Don Reed, who is the warm-up comedian for the Tonight Show.  Here is a photo of Don with Joe.  If you ever meet Don or get a chance to go to a taping of the show you will know how Don got hired.  He’s a funny guy.  We laughed a lot.  He hooked us up with great seats and….

Got us backstage after the show to meet Jay.  Awesome.

Before we left for this trip I knew we were going for a taping of the Tonight Show.  What I did not know….we were also going to a taping of the Ellen show.    Joe decided this would be a nice surprise.

The show we went to was the day before Ellen’s birthday show.  After getting home and watching the birthday show we were really bummed.  The people who attended the birthday show got $250 gift cards, a three day stay at a resort in California and more.  What did we get?  That would be nothing!   Bummer.  But, we still had a great day.

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On the plane ride to California I finished reading Jennifer Chiaverini’s new book “The Giving Quilt”.  I’ve read several of her other books in this series called the Elm Creek series.  I really liked this book.  The story line starts with several quilters coming to a retreat to make charity quilts.  The author introduces us to these ladies by telling some of their back story and why they came to the retreat.  As all of us who quilt know, getting together for a retreat teaches us more about ourselves, our friends and quilting.

Next week I’ll share some of my favorite quilts from the Road to California Show.

A couple of weeks ago Joe and I had to attend a memorial service for a dear friend’s mother.  We had to drive to Huntingdon County and decided to take the path less traveled.  It was a beautiful winter day.  As we meandered on the back roads we crossed this covered bridge.

On the drive home from the service we drove past  St. Mary’s Bridge.

As we were driving we came upon this little country store and I just loved their sign.  I think it is one of the most attractive business signs I have seen in a long time.

The raised, craved wood work was impressive.

We stopped at another little country store along the way saw this little kitty napping.

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I made a new recipe and thought you might want to give it a try.  It comes from my Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast cookbook.  The flavors are incredibly good.

TACO SALAD WITH CILANTRO-LIME VINAIGRETTE      4 servings

Cooking spray

1 8 0z. package pre-sliced mushrooms

2 cups refrigerated meatless fat-free crumbles. (I am sure you could substitute ground beef or turkey.)

2 teaspoons taco seasoning.  (I used Hot and Spicy for a little added heat.)

1 (8oz.) package shredded lettuce

1 cup sliced red onion

Fresh Salsa (optional)

Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette (Recipe to follow)

Shredded cheese

16 Lime flavored tortilla chips

CILANTRO-LIME VINAIGRETTE (mix all ingredients and stir with a wisk.)

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon grated lime rind

1 teaspoon fresh minced garlic

Heat a large skillet over medium-heat.  Coat pan with cooking spray.  Add mushrooms; saute 3 minutes or until lightly browned.  Add crumbles and taco seasoning.  Cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated; set aside.

Layer lettuce, onion and crumbles mixture evenly on each of 4 plates.  Top with salsa, if desired; drizzle evenly with Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette.  Top with cheese.  Crush tortilla chips on top.

ENJOY!

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I listened to another good book while I was sewing this past week.  “The Black Box” by Michael Connelly.  In this book the author brings back one of my favorite characters, Harry Bosch.  Harry is working on a cold case.  It is a ten year old crime and the murder victim was killed during the Los Angeles riots.  To make things more difficult the victim was a journalist from outside of the U. S.  Good reader on this audio book, Michael McConnohie, and the story held my attention.